The Fifty-Thousand Dollar Blueprint for the Future
Engineers wrap up a massive, privately-funded survey for the Priest Rapids Highlands Project, fueling hopes for rapid irrigation development.
The detailed survey of the Priest Rapids Highlands Project, on which five crews of engineers have been engaged for the past 9 months will be completed by the end of this week, and it is understood that the survey cost in the neighborhood of fifty thousand dollars. This survey was carried on by Dam Brothers of Seattle, who are identified with the Priest Rapids development. The work was under the supervision of Quinton, Code & Hill, Consulting Engineers of Los Angeles, California. The project embraces 100,000 acres of land adjacent to and extending East from Priest Rapids, and lying between Saddle Mountains and the Columbia River. The soil is a deep volcanic ash, rich in the elements of fertility, and given water will produce every crop which can be grown in the temperate zone. The completion of the survey at this time is especially significant in connection with the announcement recently made by the General Electric interests that actual operations upon the Priest Rapids dam are about to start.
“This project comprises one of the largest solid bodies of undeveloped irrigable land in the West.”
This piece outlines the immense scale of private reclamation efforts that sought to turn the desert into an orchard long before the federal government stepped in. The mention of 'General Electric interests' and the massive scale of the engineering firm foreshadow the corporate and governmental forces that would eventually dominate the Hanford Reach.
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